‘Missing’ man killed in police encounter, SHC told

A missing person who was alleged to have been picked up by personnel of law enforcement agencies on July 10 has been killed in a police encounter, the Sindh High Court was told on Monday.

The term ‘missing person’ is a euphemism used for people believed to have been taken away and kept in illegal detention by security officials for questioning about their suspected association with proscribed associations or involvement in criminal activities. 

The high court heard from Investigation Officer Pir Bux that Saad Khan had been killed in a shootout in the Khawaja Ajmir Nagri police limits on October 5.  A probe was ordered after Khan’s mother, Sajida Amir Ahmed, had challenged his unlawful detention by personnel of law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

She alleged that law enforcers picked up Khan in the airport area when he was returning from Turbat on July 10, 2017.  The investigation officer claimed in a report that Khan belonged to a banned militant outfit.

A division bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, observed that the family of the missing person had filed the petition alleging that Khan had been missing since July 10.  The court observed that the DIG Investigation (West) would conduct an inquiry into the alleged police encounter and submit a report within one month.

Probe ordered

The high court ordered an inquiry into the alleged extrajudicial murder of Waheed Ahmed, who was claimed to have been killed in a police encounter in the Sharea Faisal police limits.

A petitioner, Shagufta Bano, submitted that her brother, Ahmed, was taken away by LEAs’ personnel from the Saddar area on August 17 and later he was shown killed in a police encounter on August 19.  The court directed the DIG Investigation to conduct an inquiry and submit report in a month.

Uzair’s confessions

A police investigation officer informed the high court that four men allegedly picked up by paramilitary Rangers seven years ago were killed by gangsters associated with the Uzair Baloch group of Lyari.

Phullan Khatoon had filed a petition against the disappearance of her son, Ghazi Khan, and his three friends – Mohammad Ameen, Sher Afzal Khan and Shahzad Khan — claiming that they had been picked up by Rangers on August 1, 2010. 

She named the suspected paramilitary officials as Colonel Suleman, Sher Afsar and Riaz Taman. Khatoon alleged that Afsar even took a bribe of Rs100,000 from her for arranging a meeting with the detainees.

Rangers and other law-enforcement agencies, however, denied detaining the four.  The Rangers informed the court that Inspector Sher Afsar had admitted having received money from the petitioner and, in view of his misconduct, he had been removed from service. Referring to the confessional statement of Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch, the investigation officer submitted that Baloch had admitted that the four persons had been killed on his instructions due to enmity.  The court directed the investigation officer to submit a progress report at the next hearing.